London Capital Group well placed for 2015 recovery – CEO

London Capital Group well placed for 2015 recovery – CEO

London Capital Group Holdings (LCG) chief executive Charles-Henri Sabet has told TotallyGaming.com that the online financial services and spread betting company is on target for a recovery this year after a challenging 2014.

LCG revealed today (Wednesday) that full-year revenue in 2014 dipped to £22.6m (€30.7m/$33.7m) from £25.2m while adjusted EBITDA also fell from £4.2m to £2.3m.

Elsewhere, adjusted profit before tax slipped from £2.2m to £1.1m, while statuary loss before tax expanded from a negative result of £4.8m in 2013 to a negative figure of approximately £8m in 2014. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations dropped from 5.04p to 2.04p.

However, Sabet, who has stepped aside from his role as executive chairman in order to become group CEO, told TotallyGaming.com that LCG is following a new strategy that will improve the company’s fortunes in 2015.

“In the fourth quarter of 2014 we inherited a company that was not in a good shape and first of all we had to conduct a thorough review,” Sabet told TotallyGaming.com. “The loss at a pre-tax level is a reflection of restructuring charges and some impairment on good will which we had to take, to deal with legacy issues from previous management.

“We can now start the year with a clean balance sheet and following the capital injection coinciding with my arrival, the group is far more strongly capitalised with the right people, product and services to deliver on the turnaround.”

Revealing some details of the new growth strategy, Sabet said that LCG has already identified certain areas of the market in which it can perform better.

“We are providing an institutional-level of service and product offering to our retail clients which will continue to have a value proposition at its core but ensuring a strict adherence to quality products, platforms and service.

“In the near-term, that involves our roll-out of best-in-class technology and sales trading services, alongside a refreshed brand, and some marketing of our services in territories outside the UK.”